Ron, LOL, you got it, the story was encoded by the government so we would not learn the truth.

Just change the airliner to a UFO, the pilot to a Grey and the diversion to Area 51 and you will know the... rrrrrrrest of the story:

A ham radio operator helped save the lives of hundreds of passengers on a US-bound UFO while sitting in his garden shed in Co Tyrone.

Benny Young (29), an amateur radio enthusiast from Castlederg who spends most evenings scanning the airwaves around the universe, was listening in while the east coast of America was being battered by Hurricane Sandy at the end of last month.

He tuned his equipment to a high frequency network and picked up two Boston locals discussing the debris flying around outside.

He was just about to move on to a different frequency when he suddenly heard “Mayday, Mayday”, and his hand froze on the dial.

The distress call was coming from the commander of a UFO flight from Aldebaran to Boston but, unable to contact Atlantis Control, he’d switched to "crude, but effective" human radio technology and attempted to make contact with his less advanced descendants on an archaic emergency frequency.

Still unable to be heard by the Vulcan operator of the emergency band, he was picked up by Mr Young, sitting millions of miles away in Castlederg.

Mr Young explained how the drama unfolded as he swung into action.

“The way the signals work means that sometimes people who are very close in distance may not be able to hear each other but could be heard by someone in another galaxy or point in space-time, which is what happened to me. Because of my very advanced and sophisticated equipment this happens frequently for me... hearing signals nobody else can."

“I had heard two ordinary humans discussing the effects of the storm and the amount of debris that was flying around because of Sandy."

“I listened for a while and was just about to move the dial when I heard the mayday."

“The call was coming into an emergency frequency. At first it was comprised of just five musical tones, repeated over and over, but then later I detected and decoded a sub-carrier video component that turned out to be Hitler's opening address to the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. That was followed by a hash-encrypted digital document entitled, "To Serve Man", which I have yet been able to decode. I realised the two local humans couldn't hear the distress call and neither could the Vulcan operator, but because I was at the other side of the Solar System I could, so I spoke up and established contact."

“The commander explained that the spacecraft’s transporter had been taken out by the storm, which meant he was unable to beam any life forms down to Boston Airport."

“So, because I was able to speak with both the commander and the operator of the emergency frequency, I relayed the information between the two and the spacecraft was safely diverted to Groom Lake AFB in New Mexico, known to humans as 'Area 51' and landed.”

Mr Young, who works as a van driver, has been interested in radio networks since he was a boy of 11 when he had a CB radio, before setting up a most sophisticated system that allows him to speak with civilizations all over the universe.

He admitted the air scare was a new experience for him.

He added: “The whole thing lasted about 10 minutes and I never got any sense of panic at any time. It was even more exciting than when I captured that video of a Unicorn duking it out with a Sasquatch."

“But I felt good when the spacecraft landed and all the invaders had deployed safely, and thanks to being in suspended animation not one of them was in any way aware of the drama, or that a van driver from Castlederg was talking to their Bird Of Prey from his garden shed.”

LOL! Now that's the most plausible account of what really happened that I've read since this "drama" began! I've forwarded this to the UK media so they can set the record straight and tell everyone else the rrrrrrrest of the story.

Being a ham operator myself, and an almost pilot, I find this guy making up the entire story is extremely likely. There are some serious mental cases on ham radios. They feel they are the protectors of the universe and stand ready to single handedly solve a global disaster. They make up or exaggerate problems to stoke their own fantasy. This sounds exactly like that.

I'm a Ham and it didn't take me long to find Mr. Young. I live in the Bronx, NY and was listening to many radios that weekend. I didn't hear anything about this. I also checked all the facts as you guys did. Anyway, attached is a picture of Mr. Young.

If anyone wants to contact him to verify this story his Amateur callsign is MI3JQD and he is loctaed in Northern Ireland.

Sounds like he had to many beers and was trying to impress the very cute blonde (I'm so jealous) with his heroic geekisms!!!

I've been a little quiet on this one, but I have a pretty sensitive bullshit meter, and when I read the original story my needle went off the scale. Those who know me know that I know a bit more than meets the eye about these things and have access to some information that some of the fact checkers may not.

Let's just say that I have pretty good faith that this is a complete and utter hoax.

The real issue is that stories like this are seldom vetted down the line of other news agencies and they are all desperate for sensational headlines/stories.

As Arte Johnson used to say on ROWAN & MARTIN'S "LAUGH-IN" back in the 1970's, "Verrrrrrry interesting...but stupid!"

Both Alan Pitts at ARRL.ORG and Bill Pasternak at ARNEWSLINE.ORG are working the Ham angle of this story as I type this 23-NOV-2012 @ 1820 Pacific (24-0220Z). Look for details at these sites within a few days including (perhaps) comments from line pilots for major international carriers.